Draft-rigging for cars.



Patented Sept. 24, |90I.

` M. wAue-H.

DRAFT BIGGlNG FR GARS.

(Appliceion med Feb. 1e. 1901.1

(No Medel.)

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

JAMES MILTON wAUcI-I, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DRAFT-Blooms FOR CARS.

SJEJEIGI,FICAT1C!1\lr forming' part of Letters Patent No. 683,236, datedSeptember 24, 190.1. Applicatin filed February 16| 1901. Serial No.47,663. (No model.)

Be it known that I, JAMES' MILTON WAUGH, of Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Draft-Rigging for Cars; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had `to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to coupling devices for railway-cars, and moreespecially to the connections between the draft-bar, followerplates, anddraft-sills, by means of which a cushioned graduated resistance to theshocks of coupling and usage is obtained.

The invention relates more especially to the matters hereinafter setforth, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure lis a plan View showing the end portions of thedraft-sills and the end cross-sill of a car with the Iioor removed andparts broken away, said car being tted with adraft-rigging embodying thesalient features of my invention. Fig. 2is a view in detail, partiallyin section and partially in elevation, of a draw bar, l yoke, springs,follower-plates, and draft-irons of said rigging. Fig. 3 is a view indetail of a draft-iron plate. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4 4 ofFig. 2, showing the engagement of the springs and follower-plates withthe draftiron plates and draw-bar yoke.

Referring to the drawings,A A represent the end portions of thedraft-sills of an ordinary car, the car-Iiooring being removed to showthe same. Said sills carry at their outer ends a cross-sill B, provided,as usual, with deadwoods C. A draw-bari) is located centrally betweenthe draft-sills A, its outer or draw head D being supported below theend sillB by a stirrup-iron (not shown) in the usual manner. The innerend d of the draw-bar is secured to a yoke F, said yoke, as hereinshown, being formed of a piece of strap-steel folded between its ends,which are made to overlap the inner end of the draw-bar D and aresecured thereto by bolts j', which pass throughsaid yoke end anddraw-bar ends. A coiled spiral spring G is located between thedraft-sills and between the arms of the yoke, being held againstvertical displacement by said arms. At each end of the spring G islocated a set of transversely-arranged springsteel follower-plates, thefollowerplates constituting the set at the outer or forward end of thespring G being indica-ted by the letters I, I', and t and those of theset at the inner or rear end of the said spring Gbeing indicated by I2,I5, and i. The draft-sills are provided with outer forwardly andrearwardly facing shoulders h hl, adapted for engagement therewith ofthe exterior straight follower-plates I and I2, and also with inner orintermediate forwardly and rearwardly facing shoulders h2 h3, located inposition for contact with the ends of the straight followerplates I andI3. As herein shown, said shoulders are formed on draft-irons H H,attached to the inner faces of the draft-sills. Said draft-irons may beof any convenient pattern, but are shown in the drawings as having theform of ribbed and flanged plates, which are secured by bolts andmortises to the inner faces of the draft-sills A. Said plates H are eachprovided with an upper horizontal flange hf and with vertical ribs h5h6, which form recesses on the inner faces of said plates and the sidefaces of which constitute the shoulders 71,1%, 71,2, and h3. Horizontalbars h7 are removably secured along the lower margins of said plates bybolts or other suitable means and form horizontal supportingsurfaces atthe bottoms of said recesses. Said draft-irons, as herein shown, aresimilar to those described in Letters Patent No. 439,751, for draw-barattachments, issued June 27, 1393, to James A. Hinson, and are notclaimed as a feature of this invention. The springsteel follower-plate Iis straight or flat and extends between the arms of the yoke F, so as tobear at its middle portion against the perpendicular face of the end dof t-he drawbar D. The ends of said follower-plate project beyo'nd themargins of the yoke-arms and are adapted to engage the rearwardlyfacingshoulders h, formed by the outer perpendicular ribs h5 of thedraft-irons H. A similar follower-plate I is likewise located in theyoke so as to bear with its middle portion against the outer end of thespiral spring G, with its ends extending into position to engage theforwardly-facing shoulders h2 on IOC the intermediate ribs h6. Betweenthe two.

follower-plates I I are located two or more steel follower-plates t',which are of curvedV scribed, is positioned so as to bear at its cen--tral portion against the bent or vertical portion of the yoke F andvwithits projecting ends in position to engage the forwardlyfacing shouldersh on the ribs h5 of the draftirons. that its central portion bearsagainst the inner end of the coiled spring G or that nearer the bentportion of the yoke, and its ends project into the recesses of thedraft-iron in position to engage the rearwardly-facing shoulder on theinnermost rib h6 of the same. The curved follower-plates t" are insertedbetween the follower-plates I2 13, their crowning faces bearing againstthe tlat followerplate I2, which abuts against the inner end of thecoiled` spring G, and their outer ends abutting against the otherfollower-plate 13. By this arrangement the inner or yoke end of thedraw-bar is held in alinement with the center line of the car, whileallowed longitudinal movement through the yielding of the spring G andthe spring follower-plates.

The action of the device is as follows: When the draw-bar D is forcedtoward the center of the car by the shock of coupling, its end thrust isconveyed through the flat followerplate l, the curved plates t', theinner follower-plate 1, the spiral spring G, the plate 13, and thecurved plates t" to the flat followerplate l2 and thence to theforwardly-facing shoulders h. If the pressure increases until the spiralspring G is compressed to its limit, then the front plate I will be bentinwardly toward the curved plates i and finally brought into contactwith the same, the said curved plates t' being at the same time slightlystraightened by reason of the pressure on their ends of said flat platel. At the same time the rear curved plates t between the follower-plates12,13; will be more or less iiattened, and if the pressure be suicientlygreat they will finally bear throughout their entire length against therear followerplate 12. Moreover, when the spiral spring has beencompressed to its limit of compression the flat plate I will be broughtinto contact at its ends with the forwardly-facing intermediateshoulders h2, and said plate I' will be bent into curved form at thesame time that the rear curved plates c" are being straightened, so thatthe .inward movement of the draw-bar is at this time resisted by thecombined action of said curved plates il and the straight plate I.Should the shock be so great as not to be completely absorbed or Thefollower-plate I3 is also so placed* overcome by the compression of thespring G and flattening f saidcurved plates vl' and curving of the'iiatplate I', the saidiiat plate l will be brought into contact at its endswith the forward curved plates t', and the straight plate 13 willalso bebrought into contact at its ends with the ends of the then Vstraightcnedcurved plates i', so that further inward movement of the draw-bar willbe resisted by all of the platesof both sets, which, however, beingresilient, will afford a slightly-yielding resistance to prevent undueshock or jar when resisting the greatesty pressure to which they may besubjected. From the above it will be seen that a graduated springresistance is obtained in o'pposition to the shock of coupling, whichincreases until the shock is completel y absorbed or else graduallytransmitted to the draft-sills. Manifestly, the straight plate I2 andall of said straight plates act to prevent the bending or yielding ofthe curved plates to such an extent as to reverse their curvature, whichwould tend to break them, the straight plates acting to give therequired slight cushioning effect when the curved plates have beenstraightened under a maximum pressure. It is obvious that a sudden pull,such as commonly arises in the middle of the train when passing over thetop' of a grade, will also be gradually taken up and conveyed to thedraft-sills of the car in a similar manner, the follower-plates coming iinto action in reverse order to that described above. It will also beunderstood that any number of curved spring-plates may beinsertedbetween the flat follower-plates, and as the coiled spring G and thespring-plates may i be graduated to receive any pressure it follows thata cushioned resistance may be ob- .tained suitable for any conditionsarising in practice. When a single spring is used ora `series of springswhich are brought simultaneously into action, the modulus of elasticitythereof is practically constantthat is, j the power of-y the spring orsprings to overcome the compressing 'orce does not increase as thespring is compressed. As a consequence a power greater than theresistance of the spring or springs merely brings about fullcompression, and the excess force is transmitted abruptly to the devicewhich retains the spring or springs, and thence to the draftsills, witha shock which is extremely dangerous to the parts. By the use of thedevice herein described this excess shock is taken up gradually, moreand more springs being brought into action and a cumulative resistancebeing afforded, which increases under ordinary conditions of use untilall excess shocks are either completely absorbed or else graduallytransmitted to the rigid connections. For instance, the coiled spring Gas commonly adjusted is capable of taking up the thrust of, say, twentythousand pounds before complete compression takes place. If a shock offifty or sixty thousand pounds be imparted to it, as by a sudden stop ortaking IIO ceases up of slack in a train due to changes of grade, it isplain that an excess of force of thirty or forty thousand pounds isabruptly communicated through the completely compressed spring to itsrigid connections, which thereby are frequently fractured or otherwisepermanently injured. By the interposition of the dat follower-platesseparated by the curved follower-plates between this coiled spring andthe draft-sill connections a cushioned resistance is obtained,whichgradually increases in proportion to this excess force and whichprevents any sudden shock or blow upon the draft-sills and draft-ironfastening, so that a minimum of breakage and wear ensues. In otherwords, a spring resistance is obtained to all strains which are impartedto the drawbars, which increases gradually until said strains arecompletely absorbed or else as gradually communicated to thedraft-sills. It also follows that the recoil of a combination of springelements such as is herein shown, where successively-acting members eachhave a different extent of movement, must be in great part overcome. Theflat or straight plates on release from pressure move a very shortdistance and give only a small forward impetus to the moving parts inthe recoil, and as the curved plates, which have a greater movement inthe recoil, act with much less force than the combined plates they donot throw the parts forward with such violence in the concluding part oftheir recoil movement as would all of the plates acting together.

It will be understood that my invention is not limited to the specificfeatures of construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings exceptas set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my inventionl. A draft-rigging comprising draft-sillsprovided with opposite shoulders, a draw-bar, a coiled draw-bar spring,a straight followerplate engaged at its middle with the draw-bar andadapted for contact at its ends with said shoulders, and a curvedfollower-plate interposed between the said flat plate and the end of thesaid coiled spring.

2. A draft-rigging comprising draft-sills provided with oppositeforwardly and rearwardly facing shoulders, a draw-bar, a coiled draw-barspring, two straight follower-plates which engage the draw-bar and areadapted to bear against the said shoulders, and curved follower-platesinterposed between the ends of the coiled spring and the said straightfollower-plates.

3. A draft-rigging comprising draft-sills provided with oppositeshoulders, a draw-bar, a straight follower-plate, the ends of which arelocated in position to engage the said shoulders, a second straightfollower-plate located in contact with the end of said coiled spring andone or more curved follower-plates interposed between the said straightfollowerplates. i

4. A draft-rigging comprising draft-sills provided with forwardly andrearwardly facing shoulders, a draw-bar, a coiled draw-bar spring, andtwo sets of spring follower-plates interposed between the draw-bar andthe ends of the said coiled spring, each of said sets of platesembracing a dat follower-plate located in contact with the draw-bar,-with its ends in position to engage the shoulders on the draft-sill, asecond hat follower-plate located in contact with the end of the coiledspring, and curved followerplates interposed be- 1 tween said straightfollower-plates.

5. A draft-rigging comprising draft-sills provided with outer and.intermediate forwardly and rearwardly facing shoulders, a draw-bar, acoiled draw-bar spring, and two sets of spring follower-plates, each setcomprising two fiat plates and a curved plate or plates interposedbetween said dat plates, the outer flat plate of each set being adaptedfor contact with the outer shoulders of the draftsills, and tne innerdat plate of each set be ing adapted for contact at their ends with theintermediate shoulders on the draft-sills.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aiiix mysignature, in presence of two witnesses, this 14th day of February, A.D. 1901.

JAMES MILTON WAUGH.

Witnesses:

C. CLARENCE POOLE, WILLIAM L. HALL.

